Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-10-21

coldly to friend concerning that friends
dearest ambitions. Woman, who belongs
to the sensible sex, who has no illusions, and
tears away the vail without remorse, and
dispcrses the golden mist, permits herself to
say such things. Bethiah knew the boy 5
dreams and loved to hear them; yet she
knew also, or thought she knew the tr,ning
commercial value of those MSS. which filed
his desk, and therefore she said, Poems
and stories and things
"Of course the boy replied, II know
very well that at first | may not be success
full. Then | must wait in patience and
work. can live on very little | shall
go to one of the cheap boarding houses
where they charge five dollars IA week. One
poem a week-they could not offer less than
five dollars for pocm-an essay now and
thcn-a short tale occasionally-on of those
that you like so much--a sketch of some
thing or other, dashed off-oh | could live
very easily"
"Well; but could you persuade editors
to take one poem a week? Don't think,
Ziph'' he changed color-Don't think, "
she repeated earnestly, "that | do not
like your poems. l am sure they are
beautiful. Many poems, not much better,
are published every week in our own paper.
oh! Bethiahl 'not much bctter!' Iiph
choked. but depressed himself "And yet
| fear that you may not get poem taken
every week. And if you wish to rise you
must always be learning to write better and
better and so be lifted above the first anx-
ieties for a livclhood.n
"Well-if | find any difficulties | shall
become journalist. It's step down, but
still it is literature.
'If you are going to be journalist " the
girl insisted, "why 60 to New York at ALI
Why not begin here, right away Or
there's Salem, where your father came from
and where you've got cousins. Why not
begin in Salem, which isn't full of wicked
ness, like New York;"
No." said the boy, 81 must go to New
York. In Salem should he buried forever.
1t is only in New York that man can
spaek so as to be heard all over the Amer
lean continent and across the ocean as well.
| want a worldwide fame Here he
blushed and stammered, and stopped for a
moment, because he was ashamed even to
speak of his own ambitions 81 want a
world wide fame" he repeated after gulp.
II can be satisfied with nothing short OF
that | want to speak to all the ends of the
earth. Nobody knows except you. Every
IL shall never laugh at you. Niph.n This
girl was younger than himself yet the lad
confded in her, asked her advice. AMI was
to some extent guided by her You have
heard what manner of girl she was that
you will not ask how this could be.
"Well, then-you know already what
think. How can people go on living in
such a place as this, 1t is small and mean
and ugly, and the people are ignorant and
conceited and stupid. In books we read
that is, you and | read none of the
others do-about art and society and all the
! splendid things that go on, but here we see
none of them-we don't belong to the rea
world, the civilized world that has taken SC
many years to build"
1--WE read of it, Ziph Does not that
content you? To be sure we cannot go and
| live in London, if that is what YOU want
| But we are quite as well Off as other Amer
| lean citizens. We make our own culture
and every body says it is much deeper and
more real than the aristocratic varnish of
| Europe
"And we read about great men, but We
never see any of them. Here they are al
little men. Yesterday | was in the cemetery
looking at the tombs. How many hundred
! lie there Yet not one-nO-nOt One-whC
was ever known outside his native place OF
/ will he remembered when his children are
/ dead. Howlcan they go on contented tc
be so obscure!'
The lad had often talked in this way be
fore But his talk had more meaning in il
now that he was going to cast himself upon
the world
Bethiah, who was neither an agnostic MOI
an atheist, FASTENED to administer, or at
least to exhibit, the consultations of religion.
"Ye-yes," the boy replied doubtfully,
as if he would like to have, i'll addition t.
the harp and crown, the remembrance and
the contemplation of world wide fame
Indeed, one cannot but feel as if the great
soul of Shakespeare himself must derive
continually fresh qualification from the re
, ports daily dropping in of his continued
, fame. A glorifed person whose mortal re-
mains lie in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery
or that of East Finchley cannot have this
satisfaction.
"But yet To feel that one has lived
to some purpose, and has made a mark upon
| his generation, and is talked about wherever
the English language is spoken, and will
not be forgotten when the breath is out of
/ his body. why, The stopped and gasped.
"Always fame and distinction, Ziph, =
said the girl. That is all you think about
Would it not be better to feel that youl
work has been good work well done whether
| you have won fame or whether YOU have
remained obscure? Then you would die with
the assurance. -"
"You talk as if everybody was always
going to chruch,n the boy interrupted i'm
patiently. "Why, to do good work and
yet miss fame-one would rather-'he
stopped, because on this girls ears tie SEN
timent in his mind would have soundel like
rank blasphemy. Besides" he went on,
''do they get such an assurance these OBJ
scure villagers? Why should they get more
of it than the men who fight with all the
world looking onY'
"If you talk of fighting" said the girl, 6
remember how many gladiators die nseem
and remembered. "
"Well, they die nobly, because they lie
fighting. These people die ignobly, as they
have lived
Then there was silence awhile The sun
was sinking low and the evening air was
quiet, save for the bells of the COWS as they